31 January 2010

With Emily on the path to stardom it was our turn to be models. Minako and her husband are in the advertising business and had asked for volunteers for a campaign for a popular pot noodle, and both mine and Nick's photos had been picked. At Y15,000 (100 pounds) each for a morning's work, we thought we would give it a shot, along with Julia, Steph and Helen. The studio, once we found it, was in a plush neighbourhood near Shibuya. Like the place where Emily modelled, it is set up in the style of a European house and garden. That is obviously what appeals to Japanese tastes. We each took our turn with the photography team while the rest hung out upstairs. Luckily there were some toys in one room to occupy Emily, and Haru, Minako's boy, was also there. I felt very self-conscious as I posed on a high stool with the noodle pot. I managed to smile quite a lot despite, or perhaps because of, my nervousness. The photographer seemed to be happy with the results, in any case, so now I shall just have to wait until March to see if I appear on the final ad, which is going to feature 50 smiling people (all foreigners, I believe). It is going out in all the main daily newspapers so I must make sure to get a copy for posterity.

On our way back to the station we found ourselves in a very affluent street and there were several designer houses. One had a double-width garage with a gold door. On the street outside were some parking cones, but not just any old cones: these were white with a gold band and a Chanel logo!

After Emily's nap, we just about managed to get out at 3.45 and hopped on a train to Tamagawa river. Here we just played along the wide riverside green space. Emily was quite adventurous with the climbing frames.

There are several rail bridges near there and one has shinkansen trins going across every couple of minutes, to her delight.

We finished up stopping for light refreshment at the hippy cafe near the station and found that they were holding an 'open mic' session. The cafe owner seems quite taken with Emily and took a small bongo drum over to her. He got her banging out a rhythm of sorts and then moved her over to sit in front of the guitar players. She seemed a bit bemused but carried on playing the drum.

27 January 2010

It was another sunny day so we had a playdate at Kyu Shiba Rikyu garden with Julia and Charlize. The girls were crazy together, as always. They do get on extraordinarily well.

By the time Emily woke from her nap it was very late, so we only had time to pop over to Hon Shiba park. It is always hard to persuade her to leave the gravel and bushes outside the small shrine there and carry on to the playground. I don't know any other toddlers who are as obsessed with stones, leaves and sticks as she is. Her language skills have really leapt forward in the last week or so. At the park she was watching out for her favourite train decorated with animation characters, and piped up with 'it's not the Pikachu monorail, it's a normal one'. I wish she would pick up better on the use of 'please' and 'thank you' though; I still have to prompt her nearly every time.

26 January 2010

After my usual nursery day swim with Jo, we met Bettina for lunch at TY Harbor; a late celebration of her recent birthday. We ended up staying there three hours, enjoying the chance to chat freely (Cooper obligingly slept through most of it). I think we covered just about everything in our wide-ranging discussion: it was long enough to get kid talk out of the way and mull over some real-world issues like the global downturn. The staff had to gently persuade us to leave as we had stayed beyond dining-room hours. Life here would be very boring and lonely without the good friends I have made; it is always sobering to know that the nature of our situations means that one day we will only be able to stay in touch over the net.

24 January 2010

Amazingly, Emily slept in until 7.20. It was a bright day with a little new powder overnight. We had a bit of a scramble after breakfast as the minibus came earlier than expected and it takes a long time to get so many layers and accessories on. Wimp that I am, I had decided I would not partake of any more skiing. My legs were aching a lot, but I'm sure that if I really wanted to do it I could have just about risen above the pain, though if required to snowplough a lot I'm not sure my muscles would have been strong enough to stay in control of my speed.

Though I was only in the cafe next door I put Emily in daycare again, so that she would have toys and friends to play with. (Nick managed to book himself onto a lesson for the morning and had a good time out on the slopes.


Unlike Saturday, this time Emily was subdued and got upset when I tried to leave. I suppose she realised this time that I was leaving her for a while. There was no-one else in the cafe and I felt totally lame sitting watching skiers and snowboarders pass before the window. I was utterly despondent and also worried what Nick was thinking about my lack of staying power. I marvel less at my inability than the fact that so many people can ski so well, as it is such a dangerous, demanding and physical sport. I suppose that there is a point where you suddenly 'get it' and it really can become quite comfortable and enjoyable. I'm sure after a decent amount of time has elapsed I will be tempted to try again and subject myself to more humiliation! There has to be a worthwhile sport out there that I can master, but I am running out of options to try, having exhausted surfing, scuba, climbing , skydiving over the years.

Around 11.30 the guilt got the better of me (and, if I am honest, I was bored with reading in the cafe and had exceeded my caffeine quota for the day) so I went into the daycare. They were just about to go out into the snow with the toboggans, so I said I would go too. Emily and Charlize had great fun sliding with me down the side of the piste on the small plastic sleds. The walk back up was tough though,because Charlize's boots kept falling off so I had to carry her, and Emily got jealous and refused to walk.

Nick returned from a successful lesson and we all wolfed a quick lunch before the minibus came to take us back to the hotel.

There we finished our hastily-packed meal then took Emily back up to the room for a nap (they had been extremely helpful and said we could use the room as it was not needed for the next night). It took such a long time to get her off to sleep that she only got half an hour before we had to wake her and prepare her for the journey home. Nick was wiped out too, and the two of them kipped together while I packed around them.


Arriving at the bus-stop we found the service to Nagano station was about to leave, 10 minutes earlier than the timetable I had researched on the web, so we piled aboard quickly. As we left the city the sun was setting behind the surrounding mountains.

The three kids managed the ride very well and we were soon at Nagano and on the shinkansen home. Luckily, it was again not full at first so we could spread out.

Once we got to Karuizawa all seats were taken, but Julia got the DVD player out and that occupied the girls most of the way back to Tokyo. All-in-all, a satisfying weekend in the beautiful Japanese Alps, despite my unsatisfactory skiing experience.

23 January 2010

Emily woke at 6.30, maybe due to the usual problem with shoji screens: the white paper squares don't exactly keep out the light. There was lots of fresh snow outside and everything looked really pretty. We ate very well, being able to have continental AND cooked. The coffee was strong enough to stand a spoon up in - just what you need to kickstart a busy day in the great outdoors. Once ready, the children played in the powder snow outside



while we waited for the minibus to take us to Evergreen, which offers lessons and daycare plus an organic veggie cafe, all right next to the slopes at Happo One resort. I was pleased that Emily went into the playroom without making a fuss, though the others didn't get off so lightly.


Outside in the white stuff, I found that I had forgotten everything, even down to how to don the skis correctly. The others in our group (bar one, Rachel) were all competent skiers, so there was lots of good advice. Fearing that I would make a fool of myself using the chairlift, Donna offered to ride with me. There was no restraining bar like those I've used before on this one, so I was a bit scared at first, but she kept my mind off it by giving me a pep talk in readiness for the next part of the ordeal when I would actually have to try to ski. The views from the area at the top of the lift were superb.

Once off the lift, they all decided that we ought to ride up another shorter one to the top of what looked to me a very steep slope (pictured) but which I was assured was only a green run. It did turn out later to be a green, but a level two rather than level one.



Luckily for me, Julia and Andrew said that they would get me down the hill. Andrew even said that he would quite like to become a teacher and would be more than happy to give me some instruction. I'm afraid that he and Julia must have regretted their offer as I whinged and whined my way down painfully slowly; despite their good technical advice and encouragement I was totally lacking in confidence and full of fear. It took the best part of an hour for me to make it down a few hundred metres and by the time I go to the bottom I had cried once and used most swear words in my vocabulary. Every muscle in my legs was aching after the huge effort it took me to make all those tight turns, and I fervently wished I could be magically transported to the bottom (which I could be, in a manner of speaking, since the Kokusai lift would have taken me back the way I had come with Donna).


Julia insisted that I ski the rest of the way down, and I felt it was the least I could do. There was a gentle level one route that looked as though it meandered back to Evergreen at a shallow angle, so we took that way. Although the views were fantastic



I still didn't enjoy it as the narrowness of the roadlike track meant I could not make wide traverses and had to go straight and hold a snow plough a lot of the time. My legs were soon trembling and I was full of frustration at my inability; I just can't understand why I am so poor at skiing when everyone else looked as though they were born on skis. Most others looked so effortless and elegant, not to mention fast. I felt humiliated every time someone passed me and saw my pathetic efforts. I couldn't wait to get off the mountain and out of the horribly uncomfortable boots, and was adamant that I would never ski again. Finally, after another hour, Julia and I made it to the daycare, almost exactly on the dot of noon.

Emily was very glad to see me; I think she had been OK during the morning but was really clingy for a while. We trooped into the adjoining cafe for some sustenance. The menu was all veggie and it was hard to choose from the awesome selection of imaginative food on offer. Emily didn't eat much at all, but was overtired by then. The hotel sent the minibus to take us back to Double Black, and poor Marianne, who is recovering from stomach flu, puked everywhere. The smell of it had me very close to throwing up myself. Nick was waiting in reception when we arrived, having just got off the bus. Despite our harsh words the night before I was really glad to see him. Another family also joined our ever-expanding group at this point: Anna and Roland with their two small children.

Like me, Nick had only skied twice before and I felt bad that he would have to go off and ski on his own for the afternoon with no-one to help him go over the basics. I hurriedly passed on a few good pointers gleaned from my erstwhile instructors, then took Emily off for a nap. As she slept I gazed out at the wintry scene. Big lumps of snow were regularly sliding off the steep rooves and would do a lot of harm if they hit someone. The sky was heavy with a fresh burden of snow, though we had only had light flurries all day. After my exertions, it was hard to stay awake while Emily slept, but my mind was busy with reflections on the morning: the world seems divided into those who ski and those who don't/can't and I don't want to be in the latter camp. I wondered if good skiers felt contempt for the likes of me.

In the end I had to wake Emily from deep slumber as time was getting on and I foresaw difficulties later in getting her down for the night otherwise. She and Charlize played around the hotel as we didn't feel like putting on all the layers of gear and going out in the snow again. Nick was back from the slopes at 5.30 and said that after a difficult start he had just about got the hang of it. I left him to watch Emily while I went to soak my aching leg muscles in the communal bath, but it was too hot to stay in long enough to loosen them up much. Nick went off up the road with the other dads to a hotel with a fancy onsen while I fed Emily then took her to the bath with Charlize and Ashling. He got back just in time to help settle her in the room. Our dinner was pre-ordered for 8.30 and Nick and I left the room bang on then, after 40 minutes of waiting for Emily to drop off.

It was another top-notch dinner, and all the better for being eaten at a civilised time. As we were last to sit down we were at one end of the long table so it was harder to participate in the conversations. Also, I found myself next to Roland, and was worried about making a fool of myself as he is obviously a very intelligent and well-travelled guy, being a BBC correspondent. However, the wine loosened my tongue and I ventured a few forays into Japanese current affairs. The meal was all over by 10.30 and Nick and I were gratefully sinking into our huge and comfy bed by eleven.

22 January 2010

Our journey to Hakuba, in Nagano prefecture, was much easier than I expected. Emily and I were travelling for our skiing weekend with Julia, Cliff and Charlize, and Rachel and Ashling (with Nick following next morning). We all gathered on the Joetsu shinkansen platform at Tokyo station and boarded the Asama service. Luckily for us, the train was nowhere near full and we were able to spread out across 10 seats, instead of being confined to the four adult fare seats we had purchased. The 90 minute ride was over really quickly and with no real upset on any of the three girls' parts. I was surprised by how little snow there seemed to be in the immediate environs of Nagano city, but once we began our hour-long bus ride to Hakuba that soon changed; by the time we disembarked in the sprawling resort it was piled up metres high along the roads and beneath the sloping eaves, and before nightfall it had begun falling again.

Emily and bus travel do not go well together, and she was very close to throwing up, especially as it was stiflingly hot in the bus. When she went pale and began saying 'tummy', I decided to throw consideration for other passengers to the wind and open the window a bit, which thankfully staved off the nausea. The hotel, Double Black, had sent a minibus to take us the final couple of minutes up from the bus stop to their place, which was a wooden lodge style affair set in a wood.

We let the kids run amok along the long corridor and clamber on the comfy chairs in the cosy lounge, but as Emily and Charlize had not slept yet we had to take them up to their rooms and get them to have a nap. The hotel were very flexible throughout our stay, and had allowed us to check in early for that reason. I had to hold Emily for ages and sing lullabies to her to get her off, before laying her in the travel cot (which was a very snug fit as it was only a few centimetres longer than her). After an hour's sleep she woke and bawled uncontrollably for about an hour. I kept calm at first and tried to talk her out of it but eventually lost my cool somewhat and ended up yelling at her, practically in tears myself. Unable to think what to do I took her down to the lounge and Julia and Charlize helped snap her out of it. Roly, the barman, did his bit by juggling some oranges for her. I think it must have been a combination of waking in a strange place and teething: she is cutting a molar at the moment.

After the girls had eaten we dressed them up in their winter gear and took them for a short foray into the snow outside the hotel.

We didn't stay out long as it was a little slippery under foot and the snow had also frozen quite hard so we couldn't make a snowman. In any case, we had to go off in the minibus again to arrange our equipment hire for the next day. In the meantime Donna, Andrew and Marianne had arrived so it was a big group of us to kit out; the four children were a bit fed up waiting around at the hire shop for so long and there was too much dangerous gear there for them to roam freely. I managed to elicit the fact that Donna's husband Andrew was a huge Arsenal fan, so hoped he and Nick would have time to chat next day. By the time we returned to Double Black it was snowing hard and new powder was building up fast, boding well for Saturday.

After the kids had their dinner at 6.30, Julia and I took Emily and Charlize into the hotel's communal hot bath. The girls had fun playing with the showers and wooden bowls and then we took them in the bath. The water was almost scalding, but we sat next to the cold water tap and let it gush, finally getting the temperature down enough so that we could immerse our legs. Upstairs they watched some DVD stories on Julia's portable DVD player before we brushed their teeth and split them up for bedtime.

It took Emily an hour and a half to go off to sleep, by the end of which time I had reached what I call the 'screaming inside' stage. Unfortunately all I had managed to eat in 12 hours was a raisin bun so I was shaking with hunger when I finally made it down to the rest of the group in the dining room at 9.15. Our big order took a long time to prepare, so it was about 10.30 before it made it to the table, by when I had quaffed a fair amount of red wine and become rather loquacious, to put it mildly! Poor Donna and Julia, both pregnant and sober, were on the receiving end of a lot of drivel, and I also had a phone call with Nick that ended up in a row as we had both had a drink and were feeling raw for one reason or another. My meal, when it came, was superb: a massive tuna steak, meltingly tender, and with delicious accompaniments of red wine risotto and herby wild mushrooms. As soon as the food was finished everyone else went off to bed, but in my drunken state I decided to hang out at the bar and ended up staying until past midnight. The hotel is run by Aussies and a lot of the clientele are also from there (Japan is a big winter sport destination for Antipodeans); the barman Roly was very entertaining and I got talking to him and a girl of about 20 about piercings and tattoos. I remember discussing how hard it must be for young people to shock their parents these days. I'm sure that by the time Emily is in her teens there will be new ways for her to do so, but fervently hope she is more level-headed than I was. As I retired for the night the snow was still coming down hard.

20 January 2009

A quiet day, with the first TMG meeting of the year at Nandemo kids hall, followed by lunch with Nick.

The day was notable for the extremely mild weather, which felt positively springlike. I think it topped out at about 16C, with a balmy breeze from the south.

17 January 2010

I had been researching potential new days out from Tokyo and found out about a place called Nokogiriyama (Sawtooth mountain) so we decided to go and check it out. After an hour from Mita on a fast train we had a short bus ride to the small port of Kurihama, where we boarded a ferry for a 40 minute ride across Tokyo Bay. Though sunny it was perishingly cold, but we stayed up on deck all the way over.

The shipping lane up the bay to Yokohama, Chiba and Tokyo must be about the busiest stretch of water in world. There were huge transporter ships the size of small towns, and many smaller boats and craft too.

We ate lunch at the massive and rather soulless restaurant at Kanaya pier; the kids' meal was utterly unhealthy and I was almost relieved that Emily only picked at it. From there we walked half a mile to the ropeway station, passing some squid and some seaweed drying in the sun.

The ropeway gondola looked rather old and creaky but we had to trust it to whisk us and 30+ passengers up to the station on the 330m jagged clifftop. Despite my expectations it was really warm on top (which was lucky since Emily did a poo and we had to do an outdoor change). She had to go in the carrier for the walk down many, many steep steps behind the ridge to the stone Buddha, which at around 100 feet is the highest one in Japan.

She dropped off as soon as we began the long and tough trudge back up to the top again. My legs were quivering with the effort of so many steep steps; poor Nick had to struggle up with more than 20kg on his back.

Along this path we passed the '1500 Arhat': small statues and images in alcoves formed by overhanging rocks. Some were serene or benign, others more austere.

Back on top, further along the ridge was 'Peering into Hell', a vertiginous overhang with at least a 100 metre drop, where I held the fence very tight and made sure to look out rather than straight down.

Beneath the viewing point was a very tall image of Kannon, Goddess of Mercy, cut into the rock.

The return trip went fine. On the train home I managed to avoid brewing upset by allowing Emily to play with my mobile phone all the way. Later, my legs were too tired to do my usual run, and we both felt very weary after our long day out. However, it was a good trip and we even made it through the whole day without any flare-ups and bickering, which usually occurs as a result of something Emily is or isn't doing!

16 January 2010

It's been a long time since I mused openly about my thoughts on having another child. I confess that since July we have been hoping for a second, and I suppose as Emily materialised without us even really trying I didn't dream it would be so difficult. But, almost exactly since July, my cycle has been becoming more and more irregular. Now, with a period beginning again only 16 days after the last one I think I have to come to terms with the fact that I may be at the start of the menopause.

With the average age apparently 53, I feel hard done by, given that we haven't completed our family yet, but, as I constantly tell myself, I am so lucky to have a wonderful child like Emily and must remember the poor women who hit this point without being blessed at all. It's hard with so many of my friends now producing number two though. It seems hardly a week goes by without someone either giving birth or announcing that they are expecting. And apart from the lack of sibling for Emily, I worry about what it will be like physically and emotionally. Given that most of my friends are not likely to go through it until after I do I won't be able to share the experience. There's a wealth of information to draw on from the internet, mind you.

As before I feel odd about putting this in writing, but it is quite cathartic, and I suppose those who care about me ought to know what is going on in my life (and as my blog also serves as my diary, I may find it interesting to read back one day!).

13 January 2010

Emily and I went out in the very cold wind to a Combi Mini audition in Ginza. It was the same setup as last time, so I was prepared for the chaos and able to brief Emily what would happen. In any case, since the last one in late summer she has become a lot more confident in strange circumstances and is not so nervous in front of the camera. They measured her before putting her in a Combi dress for the sample pictures, and she came up at 95cm. It was all over very quickly and while she wasn't exactly grinning she stayed calm.

I had promised Emily that we would go to a park after the audition, so even though it was approaching lunchtime I whizzed her over to Hibiya Park for a bit of exercise after spending too long in the buggy. We found a whole host of cats hanging out in the sunshine, nearly all ginger; one looked just like our old family cat, Freddy. By the small lake there I saw a kingfisher perching on a branch above the water. That is the third time I have seen one in central Tokyo. I have never seen one back home in the wild, let alone in an urban setting. It is magical to see the sudden flash of cobalt blue as it darts to the water and back. Typically, I didn't have the camera with me. I was close enough that I could have got a good shot of it with full zoom.

Nick's colleague Emiko is moving to another desk, so he will inevitably end up with some of the donkey work she took care of (that kept her there upwards of 18 hours a day). It doesn't bode well that he didn't get home until 10.15.

Pros and cons

Pros and cons for move back to London:

Good:

Family

House and garden

Car for shopping etc

No bikes on pavement

Safe to cross street without taxi driver running you over

Variety of food available, and generally much cheaper

Easier for me to get part time job

Proximity to Europe

Possible improvement in Nick's hours ?

Bad:

Litter and dog poo

Crime

Fewer free play options for Emily

Expensive nursery fees

Mountains further away

Unreliable public transport, and more expensive

Harder to explore Asia

10 January 2010

Feeling a need to get out of the city, we headed off to Mount Takao, which is probably the closest decent high land from the capital, being only 50 minutes from Shinjuku and 600 metres high. Emily was quite fed up by the time we arrived and we'd already decided to have lunch before we went up, at a decent Italian restaurant we found last time we went. She was very happy as she got to eat pizza for the second time in 24 hours, and also had a helping of strawberry gelato.

After lunch we set straight off, with Emily in the back carrier, choosing to take Trail 6; the majority of visitors usually use Trail 1, which is all paved, and which we took the last time. After a short stretch on road we were soon on a path that followed a stream up a narrow combe. It was pleasant enough, with sunlight sometimes breaking through to pick out trees and dry flower heads: the lace-cap hydrangeas were very pretty.

As it was a long weekend (Jan 11th being Coming of Age Day), we knew it would be very busy, and also because people are still making their first visits to shrines for the new year, there being one on the upper part of the mountain. Hardly anyone else was going up the track but we had to keep making way for people coming down. Many visitors use the cable car to ride up the steep lower slopes and arrive near the temple.

Emily slept most of the way up the two mile route, waking just before a final section of steps. We wandered around on the top for quite a while with the crowds

enjoying the improvement in temperature that the afternoon sunshine brought and the great views of peak upon peak in lightening shades of hazy blue-grey going all the way back to an indistinct Fuji.

On the way back down we lingered at the busy temple for a while

and chomped on chewy but tasty goma dango (black sesame rice balls) with an outer crust from being grilled over charcoal.

It became chilly as the sun dropped and we rushed at a semi-jog down the very steep paved main trail (to the detriment of my quadriceps the next day). Surprisingly, the return train to the city was very quiet until we neared Shinjuku. As it got busier, Emily got more fed up and began being very tiresome. We still had another tube ride and a 15 minute walk to get home, by which time our nerves were a little raw. We felt very tired physically and mentally and turned in quite early.

5 January 2010

Nick dropped a major bombshell. He calle dme in the evening and asked if I was sitting down. At first I thought he was going to say he had been made redundant. But he sounded quite cheerful so then I wondered if he had found out his new salary or bonus.

3 January 2010

Despite a slow start and Nick still suffering with a dodgy tummy, we went ahead with our plan to go to go to the seaside at Zushi. By time we arrived we needed to have lunch, so we walked straight to the Red Lobster, the American-style seafood and steak restaurant right next to the beach where we ate last time we were there. Emily fussed with her food but we just about got enough into her.

We went from there onto the long beach, where I set straight about flying our kite along with about a dozen or so others. Though there seemed to be a fair breeze I just could not get the darned thing aloft. After half an hour of frustration I finally gave up, but not in time to stave off a few tears as I felt that yet again I was reminded of my limitations. A decade ago I owned a two-string kite and was able to fly it very well so I couldn't understand why I couldnt come up with the goods now. And Emily had been really looking forward to seeing her turtle kite airborne. The tears were probably as much about the strain of Nick's continued work pressure and hours, plus his illness on what should have been four days of family enjoyment though.

Eventually I calmed down and helped Emily make a sandman.

As we put the finishing touches to it we realised that she had done a poo. Had she ever! Once in the toilet I found that her trousers and bodysuit were both caked, as were her legs and back. It was very cold in there but I had to strip her off. Luckily I had a change of clothing with me. She did well not to get upset as she was by now very tired. Somehow the opportunity for a nap had passed and again I thought we should try to get through without the sleep. We carried on along the beach and into town, where we hung out in warm Starbucks for a while before getting the train home. Amazingly Emily managed to eat most of her tea and get through the evening routine without breaking down. I am not ready for her to drop her nap every day, but on days out it is quite useful if we don't have to plan around her sleeping.

2 January 2010

We met Kelli, an American mum I know from TMG, and her family, for a tramp around at Tamagawa. We began our ramble at Den-en Chofu station, which we found to be a very desirable neighbourhood; it was based on an English design for a new town and was the closest thing I've found here to British-style suburban street planning and houses. We were soon up in the park on the wooded ridge. The kids had fun in the big playground there then we continued along and dropped down the path to Tamagawa. I was pleased to find that the groovy Cafe Despacio was open for business and we had an early lunch there before hitting the riverside path.

Emily and Louis (3 years old) were happy trotting along for a while, then we loaded her up into the carrier (I was carrying her as Nick was still feeling off colour). We hoped she would fall asleep as we strolled along but she was too excited about the many kites being flown on the wide grassy river bank. After more than an hour I gave up and decided she should go without a nap. She and Louis played more in another playground by the river, then in the dying light of mid-afternoon we strolled back to the cafe for coffee and cake.

Emily was a bit testy on the way home; she managed to eat a bit of tea but by story time she was getting upset due to overtiredness. We got her down early and had a nice quiet evening.

1 January 2010

Nick still had a high temperature and was feeling rough. We shelved our original plan for a full day out and went for a wander around the temples and shrines near our apartment instead. Emily was obsessed by the clusters of berries everywhere, but was very good and left them alone 'for the birds' as she was told, though she insisted on touching every bunch.

I felt quite nostalgic for the old days when we all used to go to Clacton on New Years Day and have lunch at the Geisha cafe! A strange choice of name in deepest, darkest Essex: I don't recall it being particularly Japanese in decor or food (surely not; Grandad would not have deigned to eat 'foreign muck'!).